


Unexpected

by Aenaria



Series: the Will and the Heart [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: ALL THE FLUFF, Adorable dorks, F/M, Ficlet Collection, Fluff, It Came From Tumblr, Tumblr Ask Box Fic, Valentine's Day, i am having trouble thinking of appropriate tags today
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-06-04 05:35:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6643450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aenaria/pseuds/Aenaria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“So are you doing anything for Valentine’s Day?” Jane asks a couple of days before the big day in question.</p><p>“Nope.  It’s just going to be me, myself, Netflix, and a bottle of wine.”</p><p>She’s not lying, not at all.  Steve’s out of town on a mission with no idea when it’s going to end, so it’s a very safe bet to say she’s going to be keeping herself company. </p><p>Or so she thinks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unexpected

**Author's Note:**

> Ficlet number two from the weekend posting binge. Originally posted on aenariasbookshelf.tumblr.com, though this one definitely hasn't hit AO3 yet. Until now. Apparently this story also takes place before Thor 2 as well, but I think I haven't screwed up the timeline too badly. This story was definitely written prior to CA:TWS as well.
> 
> The original notes: 
> 
> dopemixtape asked:  
> Darcy/Steve - Valentine's Day
> 
> Obviously inspired by today’s wonderful weather. ;) Also partly inspired by a comment mcgregorswench made a few days back about writing white tank top of sex appreciation fic. This story’s also technically in the same ‘verse as the dead phone fic and the post-Winter Soldier story, if only to explain why Darcy and Jane are located where they are.

“So are you doing anything for Valentine’s Day?” Jane asks a couple of days before the big day in question, holed up in her tiny office on the campus of Culver University.

Darcy just shrugs, not looking up from the stack of pop-quizzes Jane’s foisted off on her to grade (“Technically, you’re now my teaching assistant,” Jane says, citing the deal she swung with Culver to keep Darcy under her purview as there’s no one else she’d trust with the Einstein-Rosen bridge research and having an intern for nearly three years doesn’t exactly fly with the registrar, “so assist.”).  “Nope.  It’s just going to be me, myself, Netflix, and a bottle of wine.”

She’s not lying, not at all.  Steve’s out of town on a mission with no idea when it’s going to end, so it’s a very safe bet to say she’s going to be keeping herself company. 

Theirs is a slow courtship anyway, so Darcy’s Valentine’s Day _with_ Steve would probably consist of flowers, dinner, chocolates, a kiss at the doorstep, and then slipping into bed alone with her iPad.

There’s no complaints about this, none whatsoever.  It’s actually a nice change from the typical meat-market, Darcy finds, where all the guys want to do is get down her shirt and into her pants; who cares about the personality behind the tits?  Steve, however?  He wants to get to know _her._ So instead, they talk.  A lot.  D.C.’s only an hour away from Culver, but it’s not always easy for her and Steve to be in the same location at once given both of their jobs.  It’s easy to make time for long, lengthy phone calls though, and e-mails are plentiful.

It’s getting to the point where she’d like to tell Steve everything, all of her deep-dark secrets, which is scary and thrilling all at the same time.

Maybe this is what growing up and being in a real relationship is like, Darcy thinks.

Valentine’s Day rolls around, and it’s a cold, snowy, misery of a day.  Even the campus is muted, and while there are plenty of couples making out in hidden corners, the overall feeling is that everyone just wants to go home and cuddle on the couch.  Darcy thinks that is a fine idea, and while she’d love it if Steve were there to help out with that, duty calls.  She understands that about him, and likes it (loves it?  Maybe it’s too early to say, or too early to admit…).  Jane ends up sending Darcy home early, saying that she’s going to focus on finishing up the second draft of a paper for journal publication instead.

The unspoken ‘and think about what’s going on with Thor’ is clearly implied, but Darcy knows enough by now not to say anything.

So she heads back to her apartment (technically graduate student housing, with all of the industrial, mass-market furniture and bland white walls that implies) and settles in for the rest of the day.  It’s a nice change, to have some free time and not be stuck in the lab for hours on end, and Darcy decides she’s going to take this surprise afternoon off to pamper herself a bit.  She’s never been the biggest beauty fanatic, though she can rock the liquid liner if she bothers to put the time into it, but there’s something incredibly decadent about taking a long, hot bath loaded to the brim with bubbles, polish the nails, and slather herself in some lushly floral scented lotion.

When the sky’s fully dark for the night Darcy’s got on her one nice nightgown and bathrobe set (none of that satin shit for her though; she’ll take t-shirt material over that any day), the wine’s already cracked open, and the pizza’s already on the way.  She lounges back on the couch, picking up the remote and beginning to flip through the available movies.  Something where lots of stuff blows up would be perfect, she thinks.

There’s a buzz from the intercom.  “Ahh, pizza, my good friend,” Darcy says, rolling off the couch and hitting the button to let the pizza guy in.

Only it’s not the pizza guy.

When Darcy opens the door she finds Steve standing out there, looking like a half-drowned rat with fat snowflakes decorating his hair and shoulders.  “Oh my god, get in here,” she says, pulling him quickly inside.  She runs to the bathroom and comes back with a towel, tossing it at Steve who begins to wipe the dripping flakes out of his hair.  “What are you doing here?” Darcy asks, still slightly dumbfounded and unable to get anything aside from that out.

“It’s Valentine’s Day,” Steve says, shrugging out of his soaking jacket.  “I wanted to see my girl.”

“But you were supposed to be out of town?” Darcy asks, only belatedly realizing that her brain doesn’t work all that well when she’s surprised.  This is a good surprise, though, she knows that for sure.

He smiles at her.  “We got back this afternoon, and debriefing went a lot faster than I’d hoped it would.  Then I borrowed a car and…here I am,” he finishes up with a shrug that would be awkward if it wasn’t so damn endearing.

Darcy reaches out and hugs him tightly around the neck, pressing her body up against his.  His arms immediately fold themselves around her, large hands warm enough that she can easily feel them through the fabric.  “I’m glad you’re here,” she says, smiling up at him.  She pulls back with a slight wince, plucking at her now damp bathrobe.  “You want something to change into?” she offers, looking down at the wet patches on herself.

Steve laughs again.  “Probably a good idea.”

By the end of the night, once the pizza’s been reduced to crumbs, the wine pretty much demolished, and Steve’s clothes are slowly steaming dry on top of the radiator, they’re spread out across the couch, half asleep with the TV droning on in the background.  It’d be all too easy to fall asleep right there, but this couch is small and hard and if she’s feeling cramped, Darcy can only imagine how Steve’s faring.  She sits up, twisting around to get a good look at him.  The plaid pajama pants she loaned him ride too high on his ankles, but they fit neatly around his hips.  The white undershirt looks like it’s been painted on (and is it wrong to call it a wife-beater if _Captain America_ , of all people, is wearing it?), and his face is relaxed, mostly asleep by now. 

“You’re going to stay the night, right?” she asks quietly.  “It’d be insane for you to go back out there in this weather.”  It’s still snowing out there, and the winds are pushing the drifts high against the windows. 

He cracks his sleepy eyes open, staring up at her.  “Of course,” Steve says, running a hand up and down her arm.

“Good.”

But first…yes, they’re taking things slow, but there’s an offering in front of her right now that she’d be remiss if she didn’t address.  So Darcy leans forward, stretching out over Steve’s body, and presses her lips gently to his.  For the briefest of seconds he doesn’t react, but then she feels his tongue flick out to lap at her lower lip, and she sighs.

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Darcy whispers against his mouth, just as Steve’s hands wrap around her waist once more.


End file.
